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Disney to Add New Ship in Tokyo to Expanding Cruise Business

Disney Dream, a Disney Cruise Lines' ship, sails to the Bahamas on the first Disney cruise for paying customers since they were stopped during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, from Port Canaveral in Florida, US, August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
Disney Dream, a Disney Cruise Lines' ship, sails to the Bahamas on the first Disney cruise for paying customers since they were stopped during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, from Port Canaveral in Florida, US, August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
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Disney to Add New Ship in Tokyo to Expanding Cruise Business

Disney Dream, a Disney Cruise Lines' ship, sails to the Bahamas on the first Disney cruise for paying customers since they were stopped during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, from Port Canaveral in Florida, US, August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
Disney Dream, a Disney Cruise Lines' ship, sails to the Bahamas on the first Disney cruise for paying customers since they were stopped during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, from Port Canaveral in Florida, US, August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

Walt Disney unveiled plans on Tuesday to launch a new cruise ship that will set sail from Tokyo starting in fiscal 2028, adding a ninth vessel to the brand's growing fleet.
The new ship, to be modeled after the Wish that is the largest vessel in the group, is a partnership with Oriental Land Company (OLC), the operator of Tokyo Disneyland. It is part of a 10-year, $60 billion expansion of Disney's theme parks and cruise business, said Reuters.
Disney currently has five cruise ships in operation. In addition to the Tokyo-based vessel, it has plans for three others, including one that will set sail from Singapore in 2025.
The ship, whose name was not revealed, will have a maximum capacity of 4,000 passengers and is expected to bring in about 100 billion yen ($621.77 million) in annual sales within several years of launch, OLC said.
"To set sail from Japan will make Disney vacations at sea more accessible to Japanese guests, who we know are some of our biggest fans," Thomas Mazloum, president of Disney Signature Experiences, told reporters.
The cruise line expansion comes as the industry is enjoying a rebound from a global shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cruise Lines International Association expects the number of passengers to reach 34.7 million this year, up 17% from 2019.
Josh D'Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, told Reuters in a recent interview that the ships provide the opportunity to bring themed entertainment to places that are not close to the company's theme parks, such as Melbourne or Vancouver.
Disney also reaches a segment of the cruise market that had gone unaddressed - families.
"Forty percent of the people on those ships today will say, 'The only reason I'm on a cruise ship today is because Disney's here,' which means we're creating a market," D'Amaro said.
"When we are in Singapore, with this unbelievable ship that we're building, the same thing is going to happen," he added. "We know there's an insatiable demand for everything Disney."
Disney's experiences business, which includes its domestic and international parks and cruise line, accounted for more than one-third of the company's revenue in the March quarter, and nearly 60% of its operating income.
The company's stock tumbled in May after Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston warned about a "global moderation" in travel in the fiscal third quarter and other impacts, including higher wages and pre-opening expenses related to two of the new cruise ships and the new vacation island, Lookout Cay.
The rising tide for Disney's cruise lines could help offset any softness in the company's domestic theme park business, UBS analyst John Hodulik said. The company said its second quarter booking occupancy is at 97% for all five ships.
The rapid expansion of Disney's cruise capacity "helps de-risk the medium-term outlook" for the parks business, Hodulik said.
Disney's other recent investments include three new areas at the Tokyo DisneySea theme park, recreating the worlds of "Frozen," "Tangled," and "Peter Pan," the opening of a "Frozen" themed land at Hong Kong Disneyland, and a "Zootopia" experience in Shanghai.
The company is expected to announce plans for new attractions at Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in central Florida in August, at its D23 fan convention.

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Japan City Gets $3.6 Mn Donation in Gold to Fix Water System

FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
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Japan City Gets $3.6 Mn Donation in Gold to Fix Water System

FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo

Osaka has received an unusual donation -- 21 kilograms of gold -- to pay for the maintenance of its ageing water system, the Japanese commercial hub announced Thursday.

The donation worth $3.6 million was made in November by a person who a month earlier had already given $3,300 in cash for the municipal waterworks, Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told a press conference.

"It's an absolutely staggering amount," said Yokoyama, adding that he was lost for words to express his gratitude.

"I was shocked."

The donor wished to remain anonymous, AFP quoted the mayor as saying.

Work to replace water pipes in Osaka, a city of 2.8 million residents, has hit a snag as the actual cost exceeded the planned budget, according to local media.

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Thai Cops Go Undercover as Lion Dancers to Nab Suspected Thief

People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
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Thai Cops Go Undercover as Lion Dancers to Nab Suspected Thief

People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

Thai police donned a lion dance costume during this week's Lunar New Year festivities to arrest a suspect accused of stealing about $64,000 worth of Buddhist artifacts, police said Thursday.

Officers dressed as a red-and-yellow lion made the arrest on Wednesday evening after receiving a report earlier this month of a home burglary in the suburbs of the capital, Bangkok, AFP reported.

Capital police said the reported break-in involved "numerous Buddhist objects and two 12-inch Buddha statues", along with evidence of repeated attempts to enter the house, according to a statement.

With few leads, police kept watch for weeks before hatching an unusual plan to join a lion dance procession at a nearby Buddhist temple.

"Officers gradually moved closer to the suspect before arresting him," police said.

A video released by police showed the festive lion dancers approaching the suspect before an officer suddenly emerged from the head of the costume and, with help from colleagues, pinned him to the ground.

Police estimated the value of the stolen items at around two million baht ($64,000).

The suspect, a 33-year-old man, has a criminal record involving drug offences and theft, police added.

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Sudan's Historic Acacia Forest Devastated as War Fuels Logging

Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP
Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP
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Sudan's Historic Acacia Forest Devastated as War Fuels Logging

Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP
Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP

Vast stretches of a once-verdant acacia forest south of Sudan's capital Khartoum have been reduced to little more than fields of stumps as nearly three years of conflict have fueled deforestation.

What was once a 1,500-hectare natural reserve has been "completely wiped out", Boushra Hamed, head of environmental affairs for Khartoum state, told AFP.

Al-Sunut forest had long served as a haven for migratory birds and a vital green shield against the Nile's seasonal floods.

"During the war, Khartoum state has lost 60 percent of its green cover," Hamed said, describing how century-old trees "were cut down with electric saws" for commercial timber and charcoal production.

Where tall acacias once cast cool shade over a wetland just upstream from the confluence of the Blue and White Nile, barren ground now lies exposed, criss-crossed by people gathering whatever wood remains.

Hamed called it "methodical destruction", though the perpetrators remain unknown and there has been no investigation.

Similar devastation is unfolding across several regions -- including western Darfur, neighboring Kordofan and the central states of Sennar and Al-Jazirah -- as insecurity and economic collapse drive unchecked logging, according to Sudan's Forests National Corporation.

According to a 2019 study by the Nairobi-based African Forest Forum, Sudan had already lost nearly half of its forested land since 1960 due to agricultural expansion, firewood collection and overgrazing.

By 2015, the country ranked among Africa's least forested nations, with around 10 percent of its territory still covered by woodland, the study said.

The report had also warned of further degradation if reforestation and sustainable management efforts were not implemented -- concerns now compounded by the ongoing conflict.

- 'Barrier' -

Aboubakr Al-Tayeb, who oversees Khartoum's forestry administration, said the damage "affects not only Khartoum, but Sudan and the wider African continent."

"The forest was home to several migratory species from Europe," he told AFP.

More than a hundred bird species, including ducks, geese, terns, ibis, herons, eagles and vultures, had been recorded in the area, alongside monkeys and small mammals.

Al-Nazir Ali Babiker, an agronomist, said the loss of tree cover could cause more severe seasonal flooding because the "forest acted as a barrier" against rising waters.

Flooding strikes Sudan every year, destroying homes, farmland and infrastructure and leaving many families with no choice but to flee to safer areas.

The war in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has already killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and shattered critical infrastructure.

Before the fighting, forests supplied roughly 70 percent of Sudan's energy consumption, primarily through charcoal and firewood, according to data from the African Forest Forum.

Al-Sunut had also been a popular leisure spot for Khartoum residents.

"We used to come in groups to study and have a good time," recalls Adam Hafiz Ibrahim, a student at Omdurman Islamic University.

Today, wood gatherers have supplanted the usual walkers. Disregarding army notices alerting them to landmines, men and women traverse the dry, open ground that now stands where the ancient forest once grew.

"We're not cutting the trees. We just pick up whatever wood's already on the ground to use for the fire," said Nafisa, a woman in her forties navigating the dry grasslands.

"We found the trees down. We collect the wood to sell to bakeries and families," said Mohamed Zakaria, a construction worker who lost his job because of the war.

Experts say that the economic hardship caused by the war combined with a lack of enforcement has encouraged logging.

"The logging continues, because those responsible for forest protection cannot access many areas," said Mousa el-Sofori, head of Sudan's Forests National Corporation.

Efforts to replant acacias are underway, Tayeb of the Khartoum forestry administration said, but seedlings grow slowly and can take years to mature.

Restoring the lost woodlands would be "long and costly", said Sofori.

"Some of these forests were centuries old," he added.